


Lady Cassandra: Breaking Tradition

by chibioniyuri



Category: Cassandra Palmer Series - Karen Chance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17813234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibioniyuri/pseuds/chibioniyuri
Summary: An excerpt fromPythias: Then and Now





	Lady Cassandra: Breaking Tradition

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Natsing for reading through this multiple times, or you'd all be subject to so, so many 'several's.
> 
> And a thank you to IsleofSolitude for giving me several ideas for the name of a fictitious collection of Pythian biographies.

_**Lady Cassandra: Breaking Tradition** _

Lady Cassandra I, born Cassandra Palmer, was the first of the line of Lady Cassandra's. Her reign consisted of a portion of the 20th, all of the 21st, and beginning of the 22nd century, the longest any Pythia has held the office, and was tumultuous from beginning to end. She oversaw the Great War against the gods and planted the seed of several positive changes in the magical world.

**Childhood**

Very few records exist about Lady Cassandra’s early life. She was born to a necromancer named Roger Palmer and the goddess Artemis, famously known by her alias as the previous Pythian Heir Elizabeth O’Donnell, in rural Pennsylvania. They lived in the court of vampire Antonio Gallina until her parents’ death in her early childhood. Thereafter, she became a ward of the vampire family and was raised therein, with her existence a closely-held secret. At no point was any reputable aspect of the magical community made aware of her existence, and thus she was raised outside of the guidance of the Court.

Lady Cassandra herself shared that she had a lonely and strict childhood until she ran away from the vampire court in her mid-teens. She briefly lived on the streets until Tamika Hodges found her and took her in alongside many other runaway magic children. She stayed with the group for three years until she decided to return to Antonio Gallina’s court. She used her position to provide information to the FBI about his finances, bringing several of his close circle to justice and raising a warrant for his arrest for tax evasion. He evaded capture, and Lady Cassandra began a life in hiding to avoid punishment for her perceived betrayal.

**The Transfer of Power and Early Reign**

The Pythian power began crossing to Lady Cassandra as the previous Pythia Lady Phemonoe began her final decline in health. Initially, Lady Cassandra was not recognized as the Pythian Heir by either the Pythian Court or the Silver Circle, and the first months of her reign were besieged by confusion and turmoil. The Lord Protector of the time, Reginald Saunders, branded her as a rogue and placed a succession of bounties and kill orders on her head. Lady Cassandra survived multiple assassination attempts and evaded capture until former Lord Protector Jonas Marsden challenged Lord Protector Saunders, resumed control of the Silver Circle, and confirmed her as Pythia.

Lady Cassandra’s coronation was scheduled to follow shortly after the Silver Circle’s confirmation of her right to the Pythian title. However, this largely ceremonial ritual was complicated by the Morrigan and the Spartoi, both demigod children of Ares, making several attempts on the Lady’s life. The coronation ceremony was held in a pocket dimension and became bait to lure out her would-be assassins. The plan backfired, however, and most of the Lady’s allies were trapped and unable to render aid while she confronted and ultimately defeated the Spartoi in a battle to the death. This particular battle and demonstration of power is generally agreed by historians to be the turning point of the war.

**The War**

The beginning of the Great War occurred concurrently to Lady Cassandra’s first days as Pythia. The first move of the heavenly forces - consisting of the Black Circle, certain factions of the Light Fae, rogue acolytes from Lady Phemonoe’s court, and subsects of vampire families, in addition to the heavenly beings commonly referred to as gods - targeted the headquarters of M.A.G.I.C. the night that Lady Cassandra was known to have inherited the power. At the time, their goal was assumed to be a strike at the vampire forces, in particular the North American Senate Head, known as the Consul, in order to weaken them prior to the escalation in the war. Their true motives were later revealed to be an assassination attempt on the Lady Cassandra and retrieval the Tears of Apollo that the Senate was rumored to hold. Both goals were ultimately unsuccessful.

Apollo was the first heavenly being that attempted to bypass the Ouroboros, the protective spell that Artemis cast and that the Silver Circle is named for. As the originator of the Pythian powers, Apollo had a direct conduit to Pythias, Heirs, and acolytes that he used in an attempt to bribe or coerce his way back onto Earth. The fear that Lady Cassandra would be the first to succumb to his trickery, having assumed the office without the Court’s guidance to resist his lures, was the main reasoning behind the Circle’s attempts to remove Lady Cassandra from power. When the Lady not only cast away Apollo’s efforts to gain power, but defeated him in battle, she became the Circle’s champion in the fight against the remaining heavenly beings. Apollo’s defeat was instrumental to receiving the Silver Circle's support in both her confirmation as Pythia and the Great War.

The second phase of war was against the being known as Ares. Several battles took place during the current time; these have the best records and the most available information. The most widely available records include the aforementioned coronation itself, the opening gambit of this stage of the war. It was discovered that Ares managed to turn a number of the previous Pythia’s acolytes against their training to actively assist its return. Several attempts were thwarted in the present, the most notable of these occurring at the home of the Consul in upstate New York. The majority of the rogue acolytes perished in the fight through infighting or through direct confrontation with Lady Cassandra herself. The remaining battles, however, took place in the distant past, circa the sixth century, when four Fae artifacts were utilized to rip through the Ouroboros. Much less is known about these battles, as the information recorded at the time has been lost throughout the ages. Lady Cassandra was present for the battle and confirmed that Ares was defeated in the past when one of the Fae artifacts was used to reflect Ares’ attack back to the originator, destroying him in the process.

The last phase of the war against the gods was fought in Faerie in the first quarter of the 21st century and saw the final defeat of the being known as Zeus. Again, much of this battle was shrouded in mystery. It is known that demons and vampires were instrumental in the victory, as neither are subject to the extreme loss of power that mages are known to experience. However, specifics are not available in written format, and those who were present during the battle refused to speak of tactics or important events. Lady Cassandra was again present for the battle and did confirm that Zeus perished.

**After the War**

That was not to be the last of Lady Cassandra I’s accomplishments. She is known for being integral to the restructuring of several aspects of the magical community. 

Lady Cassandra candidly discussed how her personal life influenced her stance on various policies in the magical world. One particular stance that defined her reign was how detrimental Circle-run schools were on the peace and stability of the magical world. These schools, she charged, were often used to target and disenfranchise children with undesired magical abilities, such as Jinxes and necromancers. As an example of an alternative solution, she frequently shared how she ran away from her vampire surrogate’s court and lived on the streets for an extended period of time. There, she met Tamika Hodges, who took her in along with several other runaway and homeless magical children, and raised them safely, something the Circle opined could not be done with children with more volatile gifts, such as Jinxes and Firestarters. 

The topic of the schools was also much more personal for the Lady, as her gifts extended past clairvoyance. Lady Cassandra was the first and only necromancer to ascend to the throne. She faced severe prejudice once the full extent of her gifts came to light, further strengthening her position that if her childhood had been different and she had been candid about her full abilities, she would have been placed in one of the schools instead of the Pythian court. 

Public opinion turned against the Circle-run schools after a series of investigative journal pieces exposed ongoing human rights violations, and they were eventually closed. In lieu of a formal education provided by the Silver Circle, the Pythian court began funding classes available to all mages, often taught by retired Circle mages themselves.

Another significant achievement of her reign was the formation of the first truly neutral Pythian court, where multiple species could be found equally serving the court. Lady Cassandra’s method of seeking alliances regardless of species, open communication, and quid pro quo throughout the war provided her court with a reputation for fair and unbiased considerations amongst the various supernatural species. The Fae were known to seek audiences at higher rates than at any court before and since, as the Lady was known to be Fae Friend. Vampires were also more likely to petition the court, likely due to the Lady’s origins. As a result, several multilateral pacts came into fruition during her reign, including immigration agreements for the Dark Fey fleeing their war-torn home.

Internal affairs of the Pythian court were not immune from the changes enacted by Lady Cassandra. She was fairly open about her necromancer abilities and used her position and history to pave a new road of acceptance for all clairvoyants. During her reign, clairvoyants were accepted into the court without regard to their origin or secondary magic. They could join at any age, were accepted on a volunteer basis, and could leave at any time without retribution. Pythian adepts were equally taken from the covens, the Dark, and the Silver Circle mages. She also broke tradition when she named coven witch Rhea Silvanus as her Heir, though Rhea left the court in the mid-21st century to live out the latter half of her life outside the court.

**Personal Life**

Lady Cassandra maintained close ties to the Basarab family throughout her life. Her vampire surrogate’s court was a direct subordinate to Mircea Basarab, who was a key political figure in the North American Senate. Mircea Basarab was the main supporter of Lady Cassandra in the early months of her reign, providing a safe haven and the majority of her security throughout the war and after. Lady Cassandra was also romantically involved with the vampire, and remained close to him and his family after their relationship ended.

Another man featured predominantly in Lady Cassandra’s life: Merlin, known during that time period as John Pritkin. Originally tasked with assassinating Lady Cassandra by the corrupt Reginald Saunders, John Pritkin instead joined forces with Lady Cassandra, becoming her personal bodyguard, magical and personal defense instructor, and eventual paramour. The two never married but did have two children together and remained together until Lady Cassandra’s death in 2125. After her death, John Pritkin retreated to his estate in England and largely remained out of the public eye. Family members claimed that he died shortly after, but to this day, rumors circulate that he still lives.


End file.
